Textile finishing process



Patented May 14, 1940 UNITED" STATES 2,200,944 TEXTILE FINISHING PROCESSFrederick Charles Wood, Manchester, England, assignor to TootalBroadhurst Lee Company Limited, Manchester, England, a British com- NoDrawing. Application August 13, 1938, Se-

rial No. 224,825. In Great Britain August 27,

This invention relates to the finishing of textile materials which havebeen treated for 1m- Darting water-repellent properties by impregnationwith an organic nitrogen compound containing a group of at least tencarbon atoms, usually followed by heating to decompose the quaternaryammonium salt.

My application Serial Number 220,329 contains a general description ofthe usual types of organic nitrogen compound suitable for the purpose.

The object ofthe present invention is to improve the strength'ordurability, or generally to increase the resistance to wear of materialswhich have been so treated to increase their water-repellency.

I have now found that substantial improvement in handle, strength andwearing qualities of the water-repellent textile material, withoutdestruction of its water-repellent property, may be obtained in a fabricsubjected to a treatment with a quaternary ammonium salt if thiswaterrepellent treatment is followed by a treatment with a neutral oralkaline swelling agent. The

effect is not obtained by acids of normal swelling action, nor is itobtained by reversing the order .of operations, so that the swellingaction is carried out first.- The operation for rendering the materialwater-repellent must precede the operation of swelling, but a swellingoperation carried out in the usual way with acid, neutral or alka .lineswelling agents may precede the first named operation so long as thefinal-swelling action is not carried out with an acid swelling agent.

The swelling may be produced by mixtures of compatible swelling agentsor these agents in alternation with or without intermediate washing orby the application of incompatible swelling agents in alternation, or bythe application of a combination of agents which singly do not produceswelling but which jointly, simultaneously, or in alternation, producethe desired effect. The swelling agents employed vary with the type ofmaterial being treated- For example, with cellulosic materials the knownswelling agents may besodium or potassium hydroxide, cuprammoniumhydroxide, quaternary ammonium bases, sulphonium bases, caustic alkaliswith carbon, bisulphide, caustic alkalis with ethylene oxide. Withmaterials derived from cellulose acetate, acetone and water may beemployed for examples With wool and silk suitable concentrations ofalkaline hydroxides or ammonia'may be employed.

The present invention enables. the properties 2 Claims. (01. s 11 6) ofthe waterproofed material to beimproved with the surprising andunexpected preservation of the water-repellent property.

After the swelling action has taken place and while the textile materialis still wet, or after 5 it has been dried, further textile finishingprocesses such as delustring the material and/or rendering itcrease-resisting may then be carried out.

Example 1 A linen fabric is impregnated with a solution containing 3grams octadecyloxymethylpyridinium chloride orN-carbomethoxyheptadecylaminomethyl pyridinium chloride orthe productsold under the registered trade-mark Velan PF. (a 15 quaternary ammoniumsalt derived from formaldehyde and a fatty alcohol) and 0.9 gramcrystalline sodiumacetate in 100 ccs. water.

It is dried quickly and heated at 140 C. for 2 minutes, washed off indilute ammonium hydrox- 20 .ide, passed through a bath containing adilute solution of a wetting agent (e. g., one-quarter per cent.solution of the sodium salt of sulphoj nated oleyl alcohol), nipped -01?and then immersed in a bath of caustic soda (63 Tw.) with 25 or withouttension for 2 minutes, washed free from alkali, and dried.

The swelling treatment may also be applied to textile materials whichhave been made waterrepellent and impregnated with resin or treated ,30with a reactive aldehyde, as described in my copending applicationSerial No. 220,329.

Examp e 2 Combined crease-resistance and water-repel 35 lence withswelling treatment.

A linen fabric is impregnated with a solution containing 3 gramsofoctadecyloxymethylpyridinium chloride and 0.9 gram crystalline sodiumacetate in 100 cos. of water.

quarter per cent. solution of the sodium-salt of sulphonat'ed oleylalcohol) nipped off and then immersed in a bath of caustic soda (63 Tw.)with or without tension for two minutes and washed free from alkali. Itthen impregnated with a solution of a lightly condensed solu- 50 tionprepared by refluxing for 3 minutes 100 grams urea with 200 ccs.formaldehyde (40% solution) and 9 cos. cencentrated ammonium hydroxideto which after cooling tartaric acid' (1 gram in 3 ccs. water)has'been'added. Excess of liquid is squeezed be, the fabric dried andheated at 170 C. for 2 minutes, and washed 0!? in soap solution.Alternatively the caustic alkali treatment can be carried out on theanti-creased water-repellent material. I

The two examples given relate to the treatment of linen material but theprocess is not inany way limited to this material for it may be appliedto all textile materials, animal or vegetable, natural or synthetic.

Thus the invention not only includes cases in which the swelling followsthe water-repellent treatment without interposition of other treatments(except the heating step which is part of the water-repellenttreatment), but also cases in which a materialis made water-repellent aswellas subjected to other treatments. For example the invention includesthe swelling of a material which has been treated by any of theprocesses described in my co-pending application Serial No. 220,329.

I declare that what I claim is:

1. The process of finishing linen materials which includes the steps oftreating the material with a quaternary ammonium salt containing a groupof at least ten carbon atoms and capable of producing water-repellency,heating the impregnated material'to produce a water-repellent eiTect andthen swelling the water-repellent material with an alkaline swellingagent to improve its wear-resistance.

2. The process of finishing linen materials which includes the steps oftreating the material with a quaternary ammonium salt containing a groupof at least ten carbon atoms and capable of producing water-repellency,heating the impregnated material to produce a waterrepell'ent efiect andswelling and shrinking the water-repellent material with analkaline-swelling agent to improve its wear-resistance.

FREDERICK CHARLES WOOD.

